| 1660 |
He
was born in London. |
| 1671 |
Studied
at religious academies in preparation for a career in Presbyterian ministry. |
| 1682 |
Established
as a merchant in hosiery trade. |
| 1684 |
Married
Mary Tuffley. |
| 1685 |
Brief
involvement as a supporter of Monmouth’s rebellion. Dealt in wine, tobacco and
general goods. Traveled extensively in France, Holland, Italy and Spain. |
| 1688 |
Published
a political tract – A letter to a Dissenter from his friend at the Hague. |
| 1692 |
Became
a bankrupt. |
| 1697 |
Worked
as an agent for William III in England and Scotland. |
| 1701 |
The
True-Born Englishman appeared. |
| 1702 |
The
Shortest Way with the Dissenters, an ironic tract, appeared. |
| 1703 |
Arrested
and put in pillory, for The Shortest Way. |
| 1704 |
For
10 years, he produced a thrice-weekly newspaper, The Review. |
| 1705 |
Became
a government agent under Harley. Traveled widely in England and Scotland, and promoted the
cause of Anglo–Scottish union. |
| 1713 |
Twice
arrested for debt and publishing ironically political pamphlets. |
| 1719 |
Robinson
Crusoe, his first novel, was successful. |
| 1722 |
Moll
Flanders. A Journal of the Plague Year were published. |
| 1724 |
Roxana
was published. |
| 1725 |
Produced
many pamphlets, biographies, fictions, homilies, or moralizing lectures, and political
tracts. |
| April
26, 1731 |
Died
at his lodgings in Ropemaker’s Alley, Moorefields. |
|
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